Platinum on alumina catalysts are useful for the isomerization of saturated hydrocarbons. These catalysts are subject to deactivation as a result of prolonged usage for a variety of reasons. For example, the physical state of the platinum can change under long term exposure to isomerization conditions. Further, contaminants such as sulfur compounds, metals and water in the feed over an extended period of time tend to deactivate the catalyst. Moreover, carbonization of the catalyst and/or loss of activating catalyst adjuvants can also cause loss of catalyst isomerization activity.
Typically, "spent" (i.e., substantially deactivated) catalysts are processed to extract, separate and recover the platinum values therefrom. The recovered platinum values are then used to prepare fresh catalyst. Such a regeneration process is, however, an expensive operation because of the number of steps involved, the amount of reagents required, etc. A process to readily convert a substantially deactivated isomerization catalyst to a once again active isomerization catalyst would, therefore, be of great benefit to those practicing in the field of hydrocarbon isomerizations.